Peachy Keen met up with artist Jessica R. Smith at her home studio in Savannah, where she is a professor of fibers at the Savannah College of Art & Design. Smith is the is the co-author with Susan Falls of the recently released book Overshot: The Political Aesthetics of Woven Textiles from the Antebellum South and Beyond.

We talked about her childhood spent between Alaska and Pennsylvania, her family’s history in the Florida panhandle, and how a formative backpacking trip around the world with a friend led her to a deeper appreciation of the use of textiles to create narratives.

She explains how her artistic practice and research have evolved from an initial interest in painting and printmaking to a focus on performance and installations—starting with wallpaper and moving into fabrics. By playing as a designer and creating subtly subversive wallpapers that referenced historical designs (think 80s suburban angst meets Waverly prints) she became a designer—starting her own business and then licensing her designs to Studio Printworks.

We discuss how her 12-year-relationship with SCAD colleague and professor of anthropology Susan Falls has led to multiple collaborations, culminating in their current book project, Overshot. Smith gives us the lowdown on their research process as a team, and some of the surprising finds they made as they explored the history, presentation, context and materiality of woven “overshot” coverlets.